"Democracy in action": Vermont State Senate blocks license extension at Vermont Yankee!

As the still fruitless search for the source of leaking tritium entered its seventh week, and despite last minute announcements by Entergy Nuclear -- that five top Vermont Yankee managers had been placed on vaguely defined "administrative leave" and another six "reprimanded," that a non-public internal report supposedly found no intention to mislead state officials (despite false testimony under oath), and an "offer," described by Entergy as a "gift" but by others as a thinly veiled bribe -- the State of Vermont Senate, by a resounding vote of 26 to 4, has blocked the request to extend the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor's operating license for 20 additional years, forcing it to shutdown in 2012 as previously planned. Despite this, Entergy Nuclear has vowed to fight on. Beyond Nuclear issued a media release regarding the Vermont State Senate's unprecedented "no confidence" vote against Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, as did Public Citizen. Beyond Nuclear congratulates the grassroots anti-nuclear movement of New England, including the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, as well as Citizens Awareness Network and its Vermont chapter, without whose tireless efforts, this tremendous victory could not have been won. CAN issued a statement calling on supporters to remain vigilant, and to work to protect this victory by focusing grassroots pressure on the Vermont State House of Representatives. New Hampshire Public Radio quoted Cort Richardson, a Clamshell Alliance member who has fought against Vermont Yankee for 35 years, as saying: "I think it’s a proud day for Vermont. It’s a day when everyone can really feel proud of their legislature. They took the testimony. They listened. They studied and they came up with the right conclusion. To me that’s democracy in action. It worked...The plant’s continuation is rejected totally and unequivocally." Extensive additional news coverage, much of which pointed out the Vermont decision "bucks" President Obama's call for an expansion of nuclear power, included: AP; Burlington Free Press; CBS News; Rutland Herald (including activists' response to the victory); Vermont Public Radio; WCAX TV; and WPTZ TV.

Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee covered up tritium leak for five years

The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has confirmed that a 2005 radioactive, carcinogenic leak of tritium at the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor was not reported to them until now. The Reformer also reports that 45-year-veteran of the industry, and nuclear whistleblower Paul Blanch, has leveled blistering criticism against both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Nuclear (which he calls "the worst of the worst") regarding the "run it to failure and fix it when it breaks" philosophy at Vermont Yankee. "I wouldn't accept that program for my car," Blanch said. The State of Vermont legislature has scheduled a vote on Wednesday morning to decide whether or not it will allow for a 20 year license extension at Vermont Yankee, currently due to shut down in March 2012.

Nuclear whistleblowers take aim at Vermont Yankee

The Associated Press has reported that Paul Blanche, an energy consultant based in Connecticut who has worked for several New England reactors, has accused both Entergy Nuclear and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of a "run-to-failure, fix-it-when-it-breaks mentality," saying he wouldn't get on a plane run by an airline with that approach. "There's no justification for continuing to operate that plant," Blanche said. Meanwhile, Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., himself a former atomic whistleblower and now serving on a State of Vermont public oversight panel on Vermont Yankee's re-licensing, recieved a phone call from a current whistleblower at the reactor saying that Entergy Nuclear officials knew of radioactivity leaks two years ago emanating from buried pipes. If true, this would bolster allegations of perjury by top level Entergy officials, who testified under oath to state officials last year that there were no underground pipes carrying radioactive materials. State officials are taking this latest allegation very seriously, further diminishing Vermont Yankee's hopes of surviving a Vermont State Legislature "no confidence" vote next Wednesday

Leaks and lies: a public forum on closing Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee

Beyond Nuclear's Reactor Oversight Director Paul Gunter will join David Dean, Vermont State Representative and Riverkeeper for the Connecticut River Watershed Council; Clifford Hatch, organic farmer in Gill, Massachusetts; Dr. Ira Helfand, co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility; Deborah Katz, executive director of Citizens Awareness Network; Clay Turnbull, staff member of the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution; and Chris Williams, organizer, Vermont Citizen Action Network as keynote speakers at an event on Feb. 21st in Brattleboro, VT dedicated to blocking Vermont Yankee's 20 year license extension, sponsored by the Safe and Green Campaign and Citizens Awareness Network.

VT CAN agrees with Entergy Nuclear: Vermont Yankee is "unbelievable"

Curt Hebert, a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman and now Entergy’s executive vice president for external affairs -- "its top in-house lobbyist" -- has been tapped to lead the damage control team trying to regain the trust of Vermont's public, legislators, and regulators after its spokesmen lied under oath about the existence of buried pipes that are now likely the source of concentrated leaks of hazardous radioactive tritium into groundwater on the banks of the Connecticut River. After Hebert said in  a recent interview that Vermont Yankee is "an unbelievable plant run by unbelievable people," Bob Stannard (pictured at left), "the people's lobbyist" at the Vermont Statehouse for the grassroots Citizens Awareness Network, issued a media release agreeing: "It is an unbelievable plant. We've been told that the plant is safe, reliable, and clean. It appears to be none of the above. The cooling towers collapsed, it's caught fire, radiation at the fenceline has increased and now it is leaking a radioactive isotope into the groundwater. It is an unbelievable plant. Those in charge of the plant have repeatedly, under oath, misled officials of the State of Vermont, regulators and legislators. Those who would say something that is not true, under oath, are, indeed, unbelievable. We would agree that the plant is run by unbelievable people." The Vermont chapter of the Citizens Awareness Network has helped lead the campaign to block Vermont Yankee's 20 year license extension.